15 Signs Someone is FAKE RICH

This is how you can tell someone is fake rich!

We were curious what drives people to present themselves like they are wealthy despite their obvious lack of accomplishment, what drives them to be ”fake rich”?!

So we wrote this piece about how some poor people are trying to look rich and by doing this self-sabotaging their real chances of achieving financial success.

You’ve seen them at parties, on instagram.. we’re willing to bet you know someone who’s trying to seem rich despite his bank account disagreeing with their attitude.

These fake-rich people are all around us, so we through it would be great to put together a simple list of traits to make it easier to identify them.

As always, there’s a video version of this as well, which you can enjoy here, if you don’t feel like reading this long list:

Here are 15 Signs Someone is FAKE RICH:

Number 1: They care more about the brand perception than the quality
They’re not below buying fake products and trying to pass them on as genuine. That’s easy! If you see someone rocking fakes, you don’t need to look any further through the list. Those aren’t even fake rich, those are wanna-be’s.

The fake rich, will own designer pieces but try to sneak in a fake in the package, hoping people won’t notice.

For the fake rich, it’s all about the brand, it doesn’t matter if the quality is as poor as it gets. The bigger the logo the happier they are.

People who are truly wealthy don’t care about brands, they only focus on comfort and quality. That’s why some of the higher end brands may look boring to you, because they appeal to a different type of mindset which you’re not yet familiar with.

Unless they’re looking to make a statement, the rich stick to more subtle pieces.

Number 2: They name-drop a lot
This happens a lot in upcoming circles. People try to use other people’s klout in order to make themselves look more important.

If you’ve been following our channel for a while, you know that your net worth is closely correlated to your network, so they try to do the same with public perception.

You’ll always hear the fake rich talking about other people like they know them very personally when most of the time they just happened to be in the same room as them once.

Be careful of those who’s only activity is collecting names to use in not so casual conversations.

Number 3: Constant Need of Validation
The fake rich are in constant need of other people’s approval. They thrive on what other people think of them and live for the awe some people show them.

Everything they do has the sole purpose of impressing those who are less than them in their own eyes. They spend more time trying to be perceived as successful than actually putting in the work to become successful.

The really rich don’t need anything from people around them. There’s no need to show off your wealth on social media, there’s no need to boast about the money you’re making, because you are happy with yourself so there’s no need for other people’s validation. You know you are enough by yourself.

Number 4: All they talk is about money
The fake rich are actually boring to talk to, because there’s very little that they talk about. Their lives revolve around the possibility of money.

They speak of their own future financial success like it’s a given, but would gladly throw everything away to join you if you told them you’re actually making more than them.

You surely know someone like this, a person who first mentions the price tag of an item and then tells you why he purchased it. They talk about how they’re gonna make money, about how they spend money and the price of things.. Nothing beyond that because there isn’t anything else of them that would be worth sharing.

They always plan things, but never put in the work and be consistent about it.

To put it in simple terms, even if they ever had a good idea, they’ll never make it because they lack the discipline to make it happen.

The fake rich are all talk no work. Every 6 months they find a new multi-million dollar idea which they are pursuing.

The real rich are always laser focused on the future, they know exactly where they are going and what it takes, they put in the work and focus on incremental progress. When they settle on something, they’re committing to it for the next 5 to 10 years, not just a couple of months.

If you want to learn about this super-power the rich have, we’ve deconstructed how to master self-discipline in probably our most valuable video to date. You can watch it below:

Number 6: They like to ONE-UP others
Another way to tell someone is insecure about his wealth and ability is to watch them how they behave when faced with someone else who’s experiencing any form of success.

The fake rich are usually the ones who immediately jump in trying to one-up the conversation and shift the spotlight towards themselves. This makes them look like douchebags and people notice this.

True successful people ask more questions than they speak and are always excited to hear someone else’s story or about their passions and journey.

Number 7: They like to use complicated titles for their job position
How many people do you know who present themselves with fancy-pants job titles? You can immediately tell who’s trying too hard.

What do you do Jessica?I’m a D.F.I. for the Marriott Hotel Chain.Cool, what do you do there?Well… uhhhmmm.. D.F.I stands for Director of First Impressions… so I welcome people in..Ohhh.. so you’re a receptionist! That’s ok!

All this word-gymnastics is pretty useless. There’s no shame in any job you have. We’d rather hear that you are a really great receptionist than trying to impress us with a fancy title.
Too many people focus waaaay to hard on the title instead of actually doing their job well. Technically, everyone can be a CEO of their own business which costs a few hundred dollars to register, but that just means you’re now self-employed with a nice title.

Instead of focusing on what people call you at your workplace, do your job well. The wealthy always appreciate hard work more than the packaging.

Number 8: They don’t have savings
The fake rich never have any money saved. Every single dollar coming in they’re “investing” in their image and the way people perceive them.

Having money put aside for dark days or new opportunities is a must. It’s probably one of the biggest differences in behavior between the rich and the poor.

The wanna-be’s are inconsistent and never know what to do with the money. They’d rather blow it all off because otherwise they might lose it.

And as time goes on, the inevitable happens. Either something bad in which they need quick access to capital which they don’t have… so now they have to borrow and pay interest on the money borrowed.. OR on the other side of the coin, even if a real opportunity presents itself, they’re unable to fund themselves limiting their growth potential.

The true rich always have multiple streams of income and large savings which they don’t touch designed for situations like these.

Number 9: Their circle is made up of other Fake-rich people
You know what we keep saying: YOU ARE THE AVERAGE OF THE 5 PEOPLE YOU SPEND MOST OF YOUR TIME WITH!

Funny thing we’ve noticed, is that the pretenders gravitate one to another. They hang out all the time everyone trying to one-up the other discussing how wealthy they will become very soon and how each of them has multiple projects in the works.

You see them eating at fancy restaurants, ordering bottles in the club, living it up and reassuring each other that it’s only a matter of time until they are all super-rich.

It is very much a circle-jerk.

Because while they’re out there spending the little money that have on clothes and overpriced booze, the true wealthy are making moves and putting in the work.

Number 10: They have a boss which in turn has a boss above him
In the words of Jay-Z:Everybody’s bosses ’til it’s time to pay for the office!

Yep, it’s the invoices who separate the men from the boys. Are you receiving a check or are you the one who signs them?!

Don’t get us wrong, you can clearly get rich by working for someone else, but most people are just building the wealth of others.

This reminds us of one of our all time favorite quotes which says:

People in fancy suits look really successful until you realize they work for people in tshirts and jeans.

People in fancy suits look really successful until you realize they work for people in tshirts and jeans

Audible is a great service which we enjoy and are happy to have them as partners supporting our channel.

Number 11: They buy the Fad
The fake rich spend money on material things which have a short-time/value span, meaning, they might be cool now, but it’s not gonna matter in a few months.

Ohh.. Supreme released a brick with their name on it? Better cop that so people know I’m cool!
Ohh.. Kanye is releasing oversized sweatshirts which are obviously poorly designed.. Doesn’t matter.. I need them so people know I’m cool.

You also see them buying custom made gold iphones or technology embedded with diamonds and gems.. When you know that in 12 months the new version will be a lot better/cooler than this one and you’re gonna want to cop that as well.

This goes beyond material things. The fake rich are always hit by FOMO [Foh-Moh] – fear of missing out, that they’ll jump on trends they don’t understand just because that’s where the action is.

How many people bought into Crypto late December 2017 and lost 3 quarters of their investment in 2 months?!

Number 12: They buy liabilities on credit or on installments
First of all, the rich rarely buy things on installments, they’d rather get it done and out of the way.
Secondly, as most of you know by now, you should only use credit – meaning borrow money – if you are using that money to acquire an asset – meaning something which will generate more money. That’s called good debt.

The fake rich on the other hand, take out loans in order to purchase a big-ass TV or a flashy car to show off to their friends.

These items don’t generate any revenue, they depreciate quickly and now you’re left with the loan plus the interest you have to pay for the loan.

Number 13: They own a car that’s over 15% of the house they live in
Speaking of liabilities, it’s shocking to us how many people choose to buy really expensive cars despite them obviously not being able to afford them.

Why do you feel the need to buy a new Range Rover when you’re still living in a bad area of the city.

The discrepancy between some houses and the cars parked outside is shocking. In our travels we’ve seen people living in a one bedroom apartment but owning a Rolls-Royce.

A good rule of thumb is the 10-15% law, which may vary depending on where you live in the world. It goes something like this,

If you’re living in a 100,000 dollar apartment you can only afford to buy a 15,000 dollar car.
Anything above the 15% is considered a bad purchase because of your current financial capabilities.

You can enjoy buying luxury toys, but make sure your net worth and your income can accommodate the expenses.

Number 14: They can’t hold up a deeper conversation about real wealth
The fake rich can go 1 or two layers deep when it comes to money. They usually have a couple of scripted speeches which they repeat to everyone in order to impress them, but if you really start to take it apart they’re left naked, because it doesn’t come from their experience, they haven’t lived it in order to have all the details.

This usually happens with legal or accounting manners where the fake rich immediately hit their ceiling and need to be explained even simple structures.

Number 15: They always have excuses for why their previous project failed
And everyone’s favorite way out! Blaming external factors for their failures.

How many times have you heard someone excuse their failure as: we didn’t have enough money, we didn’t advertise enough.. My partner betrayed me.. My lawyer screwed me.. The financial crisis happened.. We were too early.

The truth is: NO. you were simply unable to adapt and smart enough to make the right changes in time to achieve success. External factors happen all the time, but these should never be able to wipe out your entire business. That’s just poor practice living it so vulnerable out in the open.

If you’re curious to know why most people fail in life, we’ve made a video breaking it down for you which many of our community members found incredibly valuable.

We’re sorry to have to out, some of these people but this video should be a wake up call for them.

We’re just curious, do you know people who are acting like they’re rich despite you knowing that they’re not doing well financially? Let us know in the comments!

If you want to help them, or just passively let them know you’re onto their shenanigans, please share this article on your profiles. They should feel ashamed if they’re unaware of what’s happening.